My Enfield finds in Afghanistan

[FlightRN]

Good Day All,
Compared to my previous deployments to Afghanistan, this one only turned up one good find during my 6 months there. I was able to secure a number of original brass Enfield oilers that were made in-country (likely at the Kabul arsenal). I checked with my translator and was happy to find the ownership markings indicated that the Arabic writing indeed meant "Afghanistan". Most of them had the Afghan coat-of-arms above the Arabic script but a few had just "Afghanistan" stamped. No other marks were noted on the bottom of the bottles. Initially, the customs inspectors thought they were rifle cartridges (which you can't take with you) but after I clarified it, I was able to take all of them with me.
The bayonets weren't all that impressive (rough!) and the dealers were asking beyond top end for them (>100USD) There were a number of Indian made three draw telescopes that were trying to be passed off as original, but I didn't see anyone buying them (at the asking prices)

Happy New Year's

Michael

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[stencollector]

My last 7 month contract there ended in May. I had little luck in finding any Enfield bargains there....a couple rusty barrel bands and that was about it. One vendor tried to tell me that the multi tools he had were for Snider Enfield, but I had to tell him that they were for the Chech ZB30. They were almost identical to the Bren tools but with an extra hook on the end. The same tools are available from IMA in the US for $5 less so I passed on them. The vendor did try to get me to trade my surefire flashlight for 3 of the tools, but I was not keen on providing such a thing to be possibly booby trapped and set up for an unwary coalition soldier to pick up.

I did find one of the "TEL SIG (MkIV) Also GS" made by Beck of London in 1917. I think this must have been the one they used to pattern all those fakes from. Another curiosity I bought was a sterling silver memorial statue of a WW1 Officer who ended up being kidnapped and murdered by the Shinn Feign in Ireland. How it escaped the Green Howard's Officer's mess silverware collection and found it's way into the Afghan market is beyond me. There was a lot of information about the events leading to the officer's death in the Hansard's records of British Parliament, where both Chamberlain and Churchill had to answer questions about it.

All in all, it would seem that the seller's in the market were no fools, and knew what the prices of their wares should be. It seemed like the vast majority of the goods were neither irreplaceable, nor even antique. Lots of counterfeit US coins there....I was surprised the military allowed them into the KAF marketplace.